Second Chance
by Arminia
Summary: What if Spencer and Ashley met before the BAU, and that was their second chance at forever?


**A/N: Another Reid/Seaver One-Shot! Enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that you see on the show.**

**Scenes taken from Season 6 Episode 10 **_**"What Happens At Home..."**_

Keeping her head down as she walked, Ashley stuffed her hands further in her jacket pockets. She always felt as if everyone she walked by was staring at her. She knew they weren't but the thought of it bothered her. It had been a couple of months since her father was arrested. Ashley was paranoid someone would find out that she wasn't born Ashley Seaver, her mothers maiden name that they switched to as soon as they could. A month after his arrest, Ashley and her mother packed up their things and moved after getting harassed by the families of the woman her dad killed. But they never stayed in one place too long, and unlike other people her age, Ashley did her schooling online.

Now, they were staying in Virginia. Ashley liked it here best so far.

Shivering from the cold, she picked up her pace. She should have wore a warmer jacket.

Suddenly, Ashley felt her body knock into something..._or someone _she thought when she heard a small grunt escape the thing she knocked into. Quickly looking up, she felt her hood fall off her head and almost gasped when she took in the person in front of her.

"S-Sorry, a-are you okay?" Ashley felt her mouth hung open slightly and her heart speed up when she heard his voice.

Noticing that she was staring and hadn't answered, she felt her cheeks heat up but was hopeful he would mistake her pink cheeks from the cold. "Yeah! I'm fine. Shouldn't I be asking you that? I ran into you after all."

And then he smiled at her with a small smile and her mouth suddenly went dry and she swore her heart would jump out of her chest. How could a guy be so...perfect?

"Technically we both ran into each other."

"Right..I'm Ashley." She decided to leave out her last name as she stuck her hand out for him to shake.

But all he did was stare at her hand before smiling back at her, "I'm don't really like to shake hands. I'm Spencer."

Ashley decided not to comment on that, some people had their quirks but it just made the butterflies in her stomach become worse. 'All 'cause he doesn't like to shake hands? Pull it together Ashley!'.

"Would you like to get a coffee with me, Spencer?" She found herself saying, trying not to panic when she realized what she said.

"S-Sure." He stuttered, his cheeks now a slight pink to match hers.

They sat in the coffee shop talking until they closed up for the night. Ashley found out Spencer was an actual genius and was 21 years old, still in school, and he was thinking of joining the FBI but wasn't sure what branch since he admitted he wasn't good at anything physical. Ashley then blurted out that she wanted to join the FBI which shocked herself since FBI Agents were the ones to arrest her dad. At the same time, she saw them as heros. Ashley told Spencer how she lived with her mom, but didn't tell him anything relating to what happened to her dad or what he did, just that her dad wasn't around anymore. Spencer told her about how all he had was his mom too but he didn't go deeper than that, which she was slightly grateful for since it meant she didn't need to go into detail either. It was slightly refreshing to know she wasn't the only one holding back on the truth.

Once Ashley was home, she found herself loving Virgina even more.

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"Ashley, Spencer is here!" Her mom yelled up the stairs. Ashley quickly pulled her left shoe on and grabbed her bag slinging it over her as she closed her bedroom door and ran down the stairs.

"Mom, no matter how much you stuff him with your cookies, he won't become less skinny." Ashley said once she reached the bottom of the stairs to see her mom making Spencer eat some of the cookies she made that morning.

It had been five months since they met, and they spent practically every free time they had together. Ashley's mom had taken a liking to Spencer right away and was always trying to fatten him up. Her mom always baked, it was a way to take her mind off the monster her husband turned out to be.

"I can try, can't I?" Her mom replied, hands on her hips once she set the plate of cookies down on the coffee table.

"Thank you Karen, you always make the best cookies." Spencer quickly said, not wanting them to start one of their little 'arguments'

Ashley rolled her eyes and took a cookie as she walked to the front door. "Bye mom!"

"So, your birthday is coming up."

"You know I don't like to celebrate Ashley."

"But we celebrated my 19th birthday!"

"And that was your birthday, this one is mine and I don't want anything." Spencer told her, grabbing her hand as they walked.

Without thinking about it, Ashley slipped her fingers through Spencer's. They had taken to holding hands while walking, and after the first three times they did it without knowing, it was something that just seemed natural to them. Neither of them minded the contact, even Spencer who had stopped flinching or freezing up at Ashley's touch.

"Fine, but I can't promise that my mom won't bake you a cake." She gave him a look that said he wouldn't be able to stop her no matter how much he tried.

"I guess I can't deny Karen's cake...especially if its her double chocolate fudge cake." He said with a smirk when Ashley shook her head and laughed softly at him.

It didn't take them much longer to reach Spencer's apartment complex. Walking up the stairs to his apartment, Ashley thought of when Spencer had let it slip about his mom, he was scared Ashley would be disgusted or freaked out by him but she only hugged him and told him it didn't matter, he was still Spencer Reid her best friend. Ashley then started telling him about her dad but Spencer only covered her mouth with his hand as she struggled to get the words out and told her that he knew. Confused, Ashley asked how but he only smiled at her and said _"I'm a genius, remember?" _and he told her she was still Ashley Seaver, his best friend.

"I swear you have more books everytime I come over." She told him once they were in his apartment, some books piled up on the floor just like every other time she was here, he always ran out of room on his bookshelves.

"Actually, I haven't bought any since you were last here."

"Wow, you went a whole weekend without buying books!" Ashley jokingly gasped, laughing when she dodged a couch pillow he threw at her.

"You're so funny." He said, his voice filled with sarcasm.

"Oh I know I am!" Dropping down next to him on the couch, she kicked off her shoes and threw her legs over Spencer's lap.

She let out what sounded like a squeak when he suddenly pulled her closer to him, their faces so close that she could smell his mint toothpaste.

"S-Spencer?" Her voice was so low that she knew he wouldn't have heard her if they weren't so close.

"You can smack me later if you want." He murmured, before Ashley felt his lips on hers.

It took her a minute to realize the guy she practically fell in love with the moment she saw him was kissing her, but when she felt him about to pull away, she kissed him back. Pulling away slightly, Ashley couldn't help but smile which only got bigger when she noticed Spencer smiling too.

"Finally." She mumbled, before she put her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him towards her once again. Unlike the first kiss, this one was full of passion as Ashley found herself straddling Spencer, letting out a giggle when he suddenly stood up from the couch, her legs wrapped around his waist as he walked towards the bedroom.

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"Promise we'll keep in touch?" Ashley said through her tears as she tightened her arms around Spencer.

"I promise. You're going to miss your plane." He mumbled, trying not to let his own tears fall.

"I don't care!" She let out a sob, letting go of him and taking hold of his hands.

"You're mom needs you." He told her, pulling her closer.

"I know. I'm scared for her Spencer." She said softly, her voice shaky.

"The doctors in Boston will help her."

Spencer pulled her into a kiss right before her flight was called.

"I love you Ashley."

Letting more tears fall, Ashley quickly kissed him again before answering. "I love you too Spencer."

Both of them felt their hearts break as more distance was put between them. Ashley was moving to Boston where the best doctors were to help her mom who had fallen sick two months ago.

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_**Skipping to when Ashley appears in season 6:**_

Feeling her knees go weak, Ashley struggled to act as if she wasn't standing next to the only person she ever loved, who she hasn't seen in 8 years and hadn't spoken to around the same. After her mom passed away they stopped calling each other as much and eventually both agreed it was best to end it, even though it broke both of their hearts.

And now Spencer Reid was right next to her, close enough to touch. Ashley felt her heart jump to her throat but tried to keep her expression normal as Rossi introduced them.

"Agent Seaver, Dr. Reid."

Ashley tried to keep the conversation normal and had to struggle to pretend not to look amused when Spencer started listing all his issues. Even with all that, he still made his dream come true, just like she made hers. For that, she was happy for him.

"Agent Seaver is going to accompany us to Mexico, as a consultant."

"On?" Agent Morgan said, Ashley tried not to notice the extra tone added to his voice as if he was iffy on her going.

"She has a...unique perspective." Rossi said, an odd expression on his face.

"They don't know?" Ashley said, taking a quick glance at the group she was standing around. Of course she knew Spencer knew, but she expected the others to also know by now.

"We weren't sure how you wanted to um…" Rossi trailed off

Ashley immediately opened her mouth to talk taking a quick deep breath "Seaver's not my original last name. It's my mother's maiden name. Mine use to be Beauchamp-" Ashley made sure to keep his gaze on Spencer, "My father is Charles Beauchamp."

"As in..the Redmond Ripper Charles Beauchamp?" Spencer said hesitantly, while the others would think it would be 'cause of the topic, Ashley knew it was from him not knowing if he should go along as if he didn't know.

Ashley kept her gaze on him as she answered nodding slightly, "That's him."

As the conversation finished up, and as they headed to Mexico, they both acted as if this was their first time meeting, but they made sure to occasionally glance at each other.

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Spencer Reid was feeling nervous and antsy. Here he was just a few feet away from Ashley and he couldn't even kiss her or even hug her, he'd settle for anything at this point. While the team all thought he'd never had a girlfriend, anytime they teased him his mind always drifted off to the beautiful blonde he fell in love with when he was 21. Sure there had been Lila and Austin but nothing came from them, and even then he wouldn't have let it. Especially with Lila, all he did was compare her to Ashley.

He tried not to keep staring at her while he was on the phone with Garcia.

"_-Nothing really stands out, they're all pretty plain."_

"That's pretty much the main issue we're going to have here."

"_Yeah, vanilla doesn't make your job any easier." _

"No it does not."

"_So um..how's it going with the Agent whose father was a..ya know?"_

"How'd you know that?" He asked, her confused.

"_I might have looked into someone's hidden background.." _Spencer got a look on his face and as if sensing it, Garcia defended herself, _"What? I'm not going to let some strange new person travel with my family and not find out who they are." _

Spencer had to bite his tongue as to not defend Ashley and tell Garcia that she wasn't 'strange', but he couldn't help but glance over at her beside Rossi.

"I don't know, she seems fine." He replied, trying to keep his voice neutral.

"_What is that in your voice?" _Figures Garcia would be able to hear something different in his voice.

"What's what in my voice?" He asked her, pretending to sound confused.

"_Oh my god, you think she's pretty!" _

"What! I never said that!" He practically squeaked out, but at the same time he wanted to shout 'Of course I think she's pretty, have you seen her?!'

"_Oooh you totally do!" _Garcia said, laughing a little. _"PG out lover boy!" _She said before she hung up.

Spencer looked at his phone confused for a minute before shaking it off, she was right after all.

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Making sure no one was around to hear, Ashley stepped up next to Spencer who was standing at the table, she took notice of his nervousness and was glad she wasn't the only one.

"Hey." She said softly, keeping her voice low just in case.

"Hey." He said back, quickly glancing at her before looking back down at the papers in front of him.

"It's um, nice to see you again."

"You too. We should probably talk when this case is over." He told her, Ashley nodded her head in agreement.

"Sure, just give me your address later...or I can give you mine." She tried to keep her voice from shaking.

"Actually, I live in the same apartment."

Before she could answer, Hotch and Rossi walked up to them. She was excited to finally be on a case, but at the same time she couldn't wait for it to end so she could talk with Spencer.

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Nervous, Ashley hesitantly knocked on Spencer's apartment door. What if he didn't want to get back together like she did? What if he stopped loving her?...or worse, what if he already had a girlfriend?

She held her breath as the door opened, and Spencer waved his hand to invite her inside. Looking around the apartment as Spencer shut the door, she noticed that not much of it had changed and part of her wanted to shout in happiness at that. And she didn't see anything that would give her the idea that he was seeing someone.

"It's still the same." She whispered, her voice cracking slightly.

"Are you okay?" Ashley turned to look at him and that was all it took for her to break. Spencer caught her as her legs gave out and helped her to the couch where he sat and pulled her against him as he hugged her.

She cried for the years she missed of being with Spencer, she cried at the fact in his apartment she could almost pretend she never left, she cried for the way the case ended, she cried as she thought of the little girl now without her mom and dad because of her dads choices, a little girl so much like her but unlike her, she didn't have her mom by her side and she was so much younger.

"I'm sorry." She said softly once her tears seemed to finally stop.

"I'm not. You needed it and I'm just happy to have you here."

Looking up at him, she smiled slightly at him when he wiped her cheeks with his thumb.

"I missed you Ashley."

"I missed you too." She told him, sounding almost breathless.

Spencer pulled her as close as possible, crashing his lips against hers. They both put as much emotion into the kiss as possible.

They had 8 years to make up for.

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_**Takes place in the middle of Season 7:**_

Ashley cringed at the squeal Garcia just let out before the excited woman in pink pulled both Ashley and Spencer into a tight hug.

"They need to breathe Garcia!" Emily shouted, laughter in her voice.

"I can't help it! I can't believe you guys took this long to tell us!" Garcia scolded them, smiling.

It had been a year since they got back together, and they finally told the team how not only were they together but how they were together years ago.

"We just liked the idea of having our own little secret I guess." Ashley shrugged, dodging a pen that Garcia threw at her.

"Garcia, you really shouldn't be throwing things in the bullpen." Spencer told her, looking at her wide eyed when she threw a pen at him too but unlike her, Spencer didn't move out of the way and it bounced off his forehead.

"Garcia!" He squeaked, Ashley giggled.

"Man, pretty boy you could have told me!" Morgan shook his head at his friend but he had a wide smile on his face.

"I could have, but your facial expression when we told you just now was too good to pass up." Spencer teased him, raising an eyebrow as a challenge when Morgan gave him the finger.

"I'm so happy for you Spence!" JJ said as she gave Spencer a hug, then pulled me in for one as well.

"Me too, I'm happy for you kiddos." Rossi gave them both a pat on the shoulder, "I think this calls for a nice dinner, my treat!"

"Now who could deny that offer?" Emily said, grinning.

"I know I can't," Hotch said, smiling slightly. "Congratulations you two." He told her and Spencer, giving them a pat on the shoulder like Rossi.

As they walked to the elevators, Spencer wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

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**Ethan: 14**

**Olivia: 11**

"Ethan! Olivia! You're going to be late to school!" Ashley shouted up the stairs, quickly moving out of the way when her kids came running.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner! I still need to study for my history test!" Olivia shouted trying to fix her glasses that went sideways.

"You were just studying!" Ethan told his sister, rolling his eyes.

"Ethan, leave your sister alone." Spencer said when walked over to them, ruffling Ethan's brown hair.

"Dad! I can't see Alyssa with my hair messed up!"

'Oh right, _Alyssa_." Spencer said to his son in a teasing voice, smirking when Ethan's cheeks turned pink.

"Spencer leave him alone, I think it's cute that he has his first crush."

"Mom!" Ethan shouted.

"Ethan likes Alyssa, Ethan likes Alyssa!" Olivia teased, running behind Ashley when Ethan went to go swat at her head.

"Alright! Calm down you two, I need to drive you to school."

"I'll race ya!" Ethan told his sister as he ran out the door and to the car, Olivia right behind him shouting that he had an unfair start.

Ashley sighed, "Kids." She said shaking her head.

"Yeah, but they're our kids." Spencer gave her a quick kiss before heading out the door, Ashley shutting the door behind them.

**A/N: Review if you please! **

**Anyone else super excited for the return of Criminal Minds?! I think I'm going to go into freak out overload with all my favorite shows coming back. NCIS (Which of course I watched!), NCIS LA, Criminal Minds, CSI...SO EXCITED! **


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